General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that scientific and technological innovation and the popularization of science are the two wings to achieve innovation-driven development. It is necessary to place the popularization of science on the same important position as scientific and technological innovation, to popularize scientific knowledge, promote scientific spirit, disseminate scientific thought, advocate scientific methods, and create a good atmosphere in the whole society for talking about science, loving science, learning science, and using science, so that the innovative wisdom and innovative power contained in the millions of people can be fully released and fully surging. This important exposition profoundly reveals the basic logic of innovation-driven development and establishes the strategic position of science popularization in innovation-driven development. The revised "Science and Technology Popularization Law of the People's Republic of China" in December 2024 included in the legal text that "the country places science popularization in the same important position as scientific and technological innovation" and "promotes the close cooperation of science popularization with scientific and technological innovation". We should thoroughly implement the important exposition of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the development of science popularization in the new era, focus on the coordinated development of the two wings, fully release the science popularization momentum facing innovation-driven development, and provide a solid support for breaking through key core technologies and achieving a high level of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology.

Science popularization and scientific and technological innovation promote and complement each other in a two-way empowerment. As a foundational task for achieving innovation-driven development, science popularization plays an active role in accelerating the process of scientific and technological innovation by fostering an innovative culture, building a solid foundation of scientific and technological talents, and promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. As a strategic support for enhancing social productivity, scientific and technological innovation, through the leadership of innovative concepts and the generation of innovative achievements and technical means, leads the development of science popularization to a higher level and a broader field. Strengthening the synergy of the two wings means promoting their in-depth penetration and dynamic balance under the guidance of national strategy, and constructing a virtuous ecosystem of scientific and technological innovation—popularization dissemination—practice application—and technological re-innovation, to provide strong support for enhancing the quality and efficiency of innovation-driven development.
The top-level design for synergy between the two wings continues to improve. Policy guidance is an important guarantee for the synergy between the two wings. In recent years, the state has successively issued a series of policies and laws such as the "Outline for Action to Implement Scientific Literacy for All (2021-2035)", the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Science and Technology Popularization", the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Science and Technology Popularization in the New Era", and the newly revised Science Popularization Law, systematically constructing and continuously strengthening the institutional system for the coordinated development of the two wings. At the same time, these policies are connected with the requirements of the newly revised Law on Scientific and Technological Progress, the National Science and Technology Development Plan, and other science popularization-related requirements, realizing the penetration of the synergy between the two wings in the top-level design. From the proposal of "combining scientific research with science popularization", to the establishment of the strategic positioning of "both wings are equally important", and then to the "closely coordinated two wings" under the guarantee of legalization, the transformation from science popularization of scientific and technological projects to progressive synergy of multiple elements such as science and technology facilities, talents, and achievements has been realized, reflecting the gradual improvement of the top-level design for promoting the synergy between the two wings at the national level.
The main entities of the synergy between the two wings are becoming increasingly diversified. The government optimizes the pattern of coordinated development through policy guidance and institutional design. In the past, the main entities involved in the synergy between the two wings were mainly science and technology venues, scientific research institutions, universities, and scientific and technological workers, but now it has expanded to a new system in which science and technology enterprises, media, and the general public are integrated. As the main body of scientific and technological innovation, science and technology enterprises, through the creation of immersive industry-academia-research science popularization venues and the opening of scientific research facilities, have brought science and technology closer to the public; new media platforms have become an important channel for the dissemination of cutting-edge science and technology, significantly enhancing the coverage and penetration of science popularization. This kind of synergistic ecology with multiple subjects, multiple levels, and multiple forms continues to lay a solid foundation for the practice of synergy between the two wings and to gather broad social forces for the construction of a world science and technology power.
The content of the two wings is expanding. As a core element of science popularization, the content of science popularization is directly related to the quality of the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the improvement of the public's scientific literacy. Original and disruptive scientific and technological innovation achievements not only expand the boundaries of human knowledge, but also inject new materials, new topics and new perspectives into science popularization. The popularization of innovative achievements has become the "frontier" direction of science popularization, and also enhanced the social awareness and influence of scientific and technological innovation. For example, in the change of cutting-edge content in best-selling science popularization books, meta-universe, chip technology, new productive forces, ChatGPT and DeepSeek and other hot technologies are widely disseminated, reflecting the public's high attention to technological progress, and also highlighting the interaction and synergy between science popularization and scientific and technological innovation.
It should also be recognized that there are some weak links in the two wings that need to be strengthened and improved. The implementation of the system is not perfect, and science popularization has not yet been fully integrated into the scientific and technological project, talent and achievement evaluation system, and there is a lack of scientific and technological resources for science popularization. The supply of cutting-edge science popularization is lagging behind, the speed of updating science popularization content can not keep up with the pace of technological iteration, and there is a cognitive gap between the public and cutting-edge technology. There is a shortage of composite science popularization talents, some researchers lack the ability to transform science popularization, and some science popularizers have limited understanding of cutting-edge technology, which makes it difficult to effectively unify professionalism and popularity, and restricts the sustainable production and dissemination of high-quality science popularization content. At present, China is in a critical period of accelerating the construction of a powerful country in science and technology. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has brought forward the strategic goal of building a powerful country in science and technology from 2050 to 2035, and has put forward clear requirements for "strengthening the construction of national science popularization capacity". This major strategic adjustment highlights the urgency of building a powerful country in science and technology, and also puts forward higher requirements for improving the efficiency of the two wings. To solve the problems of the two wings, efforts should be made in three aspects.

Enhance institutional synergy and improve the incentive mechanism for science popularization. Implement the provisions in the Science Popularization Law on establishing evaluation standards and systems that promote science popularization, and improve the implementation details, evaluation standards, and incentive measures for relevant supporting policies to effectively enhance the endogenous motivation of relevant entities to participate in science popularization. Improve the dynamic evaluation and optimization mechanism for science popularization policies, and continuously enhance the effectiveness of science popularization.
Innovate the content production mechanism and promote the formation of a grand pattern of science popularization. Centering on national strategic needs and people's livelihood concerns, build a pattern of socialized science popularization development that is coordinated by the government, society, and the market, actively explore the "artificial intelligence   cutting-edge science popularization   expert team" creation and dissemination model, and improve the timeliness of the popularization of cutting-edge technology. At the same time, expand the market-oriented path for science popularization products and services, and incentivize social forces to participate in the construction of science popularization facilities and resource development.
Improve the talent training system and strengthen the construction of the science popularization team. Science popularization has the characteristics of professionalism, popularization, and interdisciplinary integration, so during the stages of education and training and scientific research practice, it is necessary to focus on scientific thinking, general scientific knowledge, and scientific writing ability training, and strengthen the internal coherence of the construction of science popularization ability. Strengthen the training of science popularization-related professionals with a science and engineering background, and promote the integration of scientific and technological knowledge and humanities knowledge. Give full play to the leading role of science and technology leaders and teams in science popularization, and increase the participation rate of science and technology workers in science popularization.